The Sweetest Mango
by Malavika Shetty and illustrated by Ajanta Guhathakurta
The Sweetest Mango by Malavika Shetty and illustrated by Ajanta Guhathakurta. This sweet and delightful story is part of the word bird series of books published by Tulika. The story is a treat for all the mango lovers out there!
While we are all well versed with popular varieties of mango like Raspuri, Badami, Alphonso, Banganapalli, Langda, Kesar, Dussehri and the likes, there are many others which are available only in certain regions and mostly unheard of elsewhere. The Mundappa is one such mango found in Dakshina Kannada region of Karnataka.
This is a simple story of two little girls called Suma and Jyothi who live in a village full of coconut and mango trees near the temple town of Udupi. They are best friends and share a common love for mangoes. Suma’s favourite mango was the Mundappa which grew on a tree just behind her house. The Mundappa was rounder, larger and fleshier than all the other mangoes there.
What happens when Suma spots the largest Mundappa that she has ever seen? Does she decide to share the news with Jyothi and eat it together with her? Or does she keep it a secret and has it all by herself? Quite a tricky situation. Well you need to read the story for that :)
The author hails from the village of Katpadi near Udupi and has done full justice to describing the region and the lifestyle of the people there. The season of summer is eagerly awaited by children for savouring the delicious mangoes. My mango loving (then) six year old loved the story and has asked us to take him to Mangalore/Udupi sometime to taste the Mundappa.
Where to buy from?
The publishers Tulika books here.
An independent indie bookstore, Funky Rainbow, from where I buy many of my books.